How Do You Do It?

I have no idea how I’m going to do this the rest of today.  As I mentioned before the Snot Monster invaded our house, I’m burned out.  I’m mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted.  And now I’m sick on top of it all.

But I don’t get to just hole up in bed and watch bad TV all day.  Instead I get to get up and take care of my two sick kids.  One or the other has been screaming all morning long.  I want to cry right along with them.  You don’t like having a runny nose?  Guess what–neither do I.  And I get to wipe your nose while I have snot dripping out of my own.  You have a headache?  A sore throat?  Yeah, trust me, I know how much it sucks.  But I’m not crying about it.  I’m holding you, doing my best to comfort you.

You can’t sleep because of the drainage or the coughing?  Neither can I–because you’ll only sleep when I’m holding you.  I’m never going to get better without adequate rest or being able to take care of myself.

It would be wonderful if someone could just come and take care of all of us, but that isn’t going to happen.  Nor am I going to inflict this plague on anyone else.  With any luck, it stops here.  Besides, this is what being the mommy is all about: giving up all of myself, even my sick self, to take care of my kids.  I sure wish that had been made clear in the job description before I’d agreed to take the job.

So those of you with several kids of your own, how do you do this?  Do you have any great tips for taking care of more than one sick and whiny kid when all you want to do is curl up into a ball with Vicks on your chest and hug a box of tissues?